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What is Mushroom Leather and How is it Made? (2020)

Author: _Microft

Score: 15

Comments: 8

Date: 2021-12-03 13:02:34

Web Link

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_Microft wrote at 2021-12-03 15:47:55:

Has anyone found out how the mycelium is treated after harvesting it? Does it need to be 'killed' before being used? Is the leather like texture embossed onto it or are there mycelia that develop similar structures all by themselves?

There do not seem to be any obvious drawbacks. Could it actually be that we discovered a new type of material for building things or clothing that had been overlooked so far?

robbedpeter wrote at 2021-12-03 16:28:52:

https://bcgctest.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/gs_2017_mycowor...

This has an interesting set of tanning processes, but it's funny how SEO saturated this topic is. There are some video results that are probably useful, but 99% of my searches are turning up commercial garbage, and nothing to do with actually making mushroom leather.

Iirc from a podcast, sodium carbonate is used to soak amadou mushrooms for a felt-like material, which Paul Stamets uses for his hat.

You'll probably need to learn the jargon and terms of art specifying the exact types of mushroom fabrics and materials that can be produced.

Good luck!

_Microft wrote at 2021-12-03 17:53:22:

Good find, thanks a lot!

ampdepolymerase wrote at 2021-12-03 16:20:03:

Anything biodegradable (in the composting sense) almost always does not last long absent significant chemical treatment. If you think current faux-leather technology is a step down from the real thing, then mycelium based products will be even worse. There is an inherent trade-off between biodegradable and long lasting products. What we can do is make products that are _recyclable_. In other words, engineer materials to only break down with a specific brand of artificially engineered enzymes that are not found in the wild. Unfortunately we are still a couple years away in terms of proteomics advancement to be able to do _de novo_ synthesis with such precision.

rdlecler1 wrote at 2021-12-04 03:33:19:

This is a false statement. Animal leather is also biodegradable. Durability of both comes from tanning.

ampdepolymerase wrote at 2021-12-04 08:14:46:

I did say with the caveat of chemical treatment.

rdlecler1 wrote at 2021-12-04 03:31:57:

We’re an investor in MycoWorks.

The mycelium (root structure) is killed in the process. It can then be tanned as you would tan normal leather. MycoWorks is working with Hermes which tans the leather in their own tanneries.

Animal leather is also embossed actually and they emboss the mycelium leather the same way. It’s an incredible fabric that looks and feels like animal leather, but it can also be grown thicker and to shape. It’s very versatile. An incredible product.

more_corn wrote at 2021-12-03 19:31:17:

I wonder how this holds up under sunlight. One of the problems with leather is drying and cracking.